Life is a Highway
by Dracoisalooker76
Summary: Growing up was never easy, especially for Troy Bolton and his little sister Mack. Within are a bunch of oneshots showing their lives from the time Mack was born to after the end of the series.
1. June 1992

**Disclaimer: I own the characters not mentioned in High School Musical, but other than that...it's all Disney's.**

**So...people couldn't get enough of Mack and Troy. I know, they're great and I missed writing about them. These are a bunch of one shots about Mack and Troy growing up. Hope you like! **

_June 1992_

Jack Bolton walked Troy down the hallway of the hospital toward the nursery. The three year old skipped in his blue flannel pajamas and matching slippers. Jack ignored the looks new fathers were giving him as he walked slightly behind his energetic son. They would raise their eyebrows and stare wondering what had happened to Troy.

It wasn't 'what happened' though, and that's what the fathers of healthy children didn't understand. Unless you stayed up all hours of the night by the phone, waiting for the call from the hospital saying something was wrong or something great happened. Unless you stayed in the NICU until they kicked you out just looking at the small being in the incubator. Unless you're kid was like Troy, you didn't understand.

Jack kept his focus on his tiny little Troy instead of meeting the eyes of the people passing by. He hated the fact that Troy was in the hospital, again, walking down the halls with his IV pole. He felt horrible that his son had to be in the hospital fighting pneumonia for what seemed like the millionth time that year.

Troy stopped at a large window and jumped up to see inside. Jack chuckled before he picked up his son and placed him on the window's ledge. "Which one is she," Troy asked, placing his hand on the glass. Jack pulled Troy's IV pole over to the side and looked in himself.

"See the one with the pink hat?" Troy nodded seeing the only baby with a pink hat amongst beds of babies with blue hats and blankets. "That's her."

A smile spread across Troy's face. "What's her name," he asked.

"Mackenzie."

"Ma-ken-z," he said pronouncing the name slowly trying to get it right. "Can we call her Mack?"

"Where did you get that idea," Jack asked, wondering if maybe Troy had met someone named Mack in the hospital. He and Elaine hadn't really thought about a nickname for their newborn daughter.

"Because she reminds me of Mac and Cheese. Which reminds me, I'm hungry." He turned to face his father and a grin spread across his face. "Can we stop by the cafeteria?"

Jack couldn't hold it in. He started laughing at the statement Troy had just made. "What's so funny," Troy demanded, his hands on his hips.

"Nothing son," Jack said, rubbing his eyes. Troy jumped off the ledge he was sitting on and started to walk down the hall toward the elevator. Jack followed when Troy turned around suddenly.

"Will I be home when she goes home," he asked.

Jack looked down at his son. Troy's blue eyes stared up at him, waiting for an answer. "I don't know, Troy," he told him, when in reality, he knew Troy was still going to be in the hospital when his sister left the next day.

"I'm not going to be, am I," Troy said quietly. Jack shook his head. Troy sighed, "let's go."

The ride up the elevator was silent. Jack couldn't help but look at his son. Troy kept his head held high, trying to show that it didn't bother him. But it did, and Jack knew it. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when the elevator stopped and Troy walked out. Jack shut his mouth and followed Troy to his room.

Troy climbed into his bed and turned on the television. Some cartoon was playing when Jack walked in, but Troy wasn't paying any attention to it. "Troy," Jack said. Troy looked up at his father, tears stinging his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Troy sniffled. "I'm not going to be there. It's just going to be you, Mommy and the baby. What if you forget about me?"

"We will never forget about you," Jack said. "Plus, we never leave you alone at night. Either Mommy or I will be here tomorrow night with you and the other will be with the baby."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Do you think she'll like me," Troy asked. "Do you think I'll make a good big brother?"

"The best," Jack told him. "And how could she not like you?"

Troy smiled. "When I'm better, can I hold her?"

"Of course."

"Now I can be like Chad," Troy exclaimed. "He has a sister too!"

Jack just nodded and ruffled his son's hair. "I think it's time for you to get some sleep. I'm going to see Mommy, I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay."

Jack watched Troy close his eyes before he took the elevator to Elaine's room. She was watching the television and talking to the screen. Jack assumed it was a soap opera and he was right. "Hey," he said walking in the room. "I just got Troy asleep."

She turned off the television and looked over at him. "Did you take him?"

"I did," he said. "He wants to call her Mack."

Elaine thought about it for a moment. "Mack Bolton. Hmm...I like it, what about you?"

Jack shrugged. "If you like it, I like it."

"Elaine, oh my God! She is adorable!"

Jack shook his head as Kathy Danforth walked through the door to Elaine's room. The two started talking and Jack slipped out of the room. "Congratulations," came a voice. He looked into the face of his long time friend Chris Danforth.

"Yeah, she's got quite the set of lungs on her though," Jack said.

"Get ready for some restless nights. Believe me they're not fun." The two started walking down the hall. "Chad can't wait to tell Troy the 'awfulness of having a sister'. How is the little guy?"

"He's stopped puking, but their still giving him the medicine through IV. They think he'll be out in about a week."

"That's good."

"He's upset because he wont be there when we bring her home," Jack said.

Chris laughed. "You should be thankful. When Emma found out that Chad was a boy, she wanted to bring him back to the hospital." Jack laughed. "It's not funny, she cried, he cried, I cried! The whole house was crying."

"She's completely healthy though, which is good," Jack said. "I don't think I could take it if she wasn't."

"What did you name her?"

"Mackenzie, but we're calling her Mack."

Chris nodded in approval. "Welcome to the life of having two kids. Hide all the breakable stuff."

**So...what do you think? If you have any ideas, feel free to send them.**

**Review!**


	2. September 1995

**Sorry about the long wait. Anyway, here is the next oneshot.**

_September 1995_

"It was a cool picture!"

"I'm sure it was a nice cat Troy," Elaine said as she watered the flowers in her garden.

"But you didn't see it! Cam added whiskers and Chad's tail was blue! Ms. Donald wanted to put it up on the board it was so good." Troy itched his arm, feeling a bump under his fingers he looked down. His eyes widened at the sight of a small red bump on his skin. Quickly he pulled down the sleeve of his jacket.

"I'm going inside," he said quickly before running out of the yard and into the house. Once he was inside and sure no one was around, he examined his arm. Now, his entire arm was covered in the bumps. He pulled his sleeve down, deciding that hiding it would be the best thing to do for now.

Troy walked to the playpen, where Mack was playing with blocks. "Hey Mack," he said.

"Pink," she said in her (what Troy thought was annoying) baby voice. Her finger was stretched out and pointing at his face. His eyes widened and he ran to the sink, grabbing a spoon and looking at his reflection. The bumps had spread to his face, now there was no way to hide it.

"Troy, what are you doing," Jack asked after putting his coat on the rack. Troy put a hand to his forehead and turned around. "Nothing," he answered quickly.

"Nothing," Jack wondered aloud. He grabbed Troy's hand gently and pulled it off his forehead. "What's that," he asked.

"I don't know," he said unconsciously itching his stomach.

"Aren't you hot with that jacket on," Jack asked, reaching to remove it from Troy's shoulders. Troy shook his head, but Jack still took it off. He looked suspiciously at the bumps, before realizing Troy was itching his forehead. Jack lifted up his shirt to find the little bumps on his stomach too and suddenly knew what was going on. "Elaine!"

She walked in the room, looking slightly annoyed at being beckoned for what seemed like the millionth time that day. When it wasn't Mack, it was Troy and now Jack. "What?"

"Troy has the chickenpox."

"I'm never eating chicken again," Troy shrieked. "I'm itchy!"

Jack and Elaine laughed. "No sweetheart, it's not from a chicken," Elaine told him.

"Pink," the three heard from the living room. Jack and Elaine's eyes widened. "Is Mack going to get itchy too," Troy asked innocently.

Elaine rushed into the other room and grabbed the two year old in her arms. "Should we let her get it too. Them both at the same time," Jack suggested.

"I don't know Jack," Elaine said. "I don't want..." She shut her eyes. "Do we have to bring Troy in? I don't want him in the hospital again-"

"Elaine! You're getting worked up. It's chickenpox," he said, trying to calm her down.

"Dad I'm itchy," Troy yelled, running in the room, skidding on the wood floor. Mack started to giggle. "Hey," he yelled at her from the ground, which was a bad move because she started screaming.

"Troy," Elaine scolded.

"Dad!"

"Ahhh!"

Jack turned around, pulling his hair. He took a deep breath and was about to turn back when he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked into Troy's blue eyes. "I'm itchy," he stated.

"I know," Jack told him, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder. Troy laughed.

"Jack," Elaine warned.

"I'm not doing anything," he said. "Troy likes it, and it's not hurting him. How about we not do anything and if Mack gets the chickenpox, she gets it. I'd just assume we get them both done with at the same time."

"But Jack," Elaine said. "I want to call the doctor. You and I both know Troy can't fight infections well and I don't want him getting really sick."

"Go ahead, and while you're talking ask what we should do about Mack."

Jack put Troy down and Elaine handed Mack to him. "Don't itch it Troy," Jack said, seeing Troy scratching at his face.

"Why, it's itchy!"

"It will get infected and you don't want that do you?"

Troy shook his head and ran to the kitchen. Jack got his daughter to stop crying before going to listen to one side of the conversation Elaine was having with the doctor.

"Okay. Thank you Doctor Chandler. Yes, good bye."

"What did he say?"

"He's coming over around five to give Troy some drug to make it less severe. Turns out," she said, clearly agitated. "Troy could have gotten very ill. But this is suppose to help. And he's giving Mack a new shot. If she hasn't already gotten it, this should make it so she won't get it."

"New shot?"

"Yes," Elaine told him. "It's perfectly safe and she won't have chickenpox if it isn't already in her system."

Jack nodded. "What about Troy?"

"Bed rest. And if he starts to show signs of infection or pneumonia-"

"Pneumonia," Jack repeated. "He can't get that again. He just had a case of it!"

"Well, if he shows signs, we bring him to the hospital."

Jack rolled his eyes and looked at Mack, who raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes. He smiled and she stuck out her tongue. "That's not very nice," he told her. He heard a faint sound in the distance and turned toward the kitchen. "Troy! You're not scratching again are you?"

"No," came the delayed reply.

"This is going to be fun," Elaine told him leaning against the wall.

"Lovely," Jack said.

"Offy," Mack said, trying to copy Jack.

Later that night, Elaine sat down on the edge of the bed. "Jack, you're a genius."

"I know," he said, looking over a piece of paper with symptoms they were to look out for in Troy. If he displayed any, the doctor wanted to hear about it.

"No, I'm serious," she said. "Those oven mitts are helping so much. He's barely scratching." There was a pause. "I don't want him going back."

"I know," Jack said, this time looking up at her.

"No, I mean I don't want him going back to kindergarten." Jack raised an eyebrow. "I don't want him getting sick again. I barely go on business trips and he doesn't do anything in kindergarten I can't teach him here."

"He needs to meet new people," Jack reasoned.

"He already knows Chad and Cam," Elaine said. "Please Jack, he can go back in first grade. I just..."

"I understand, but I don't know if it's the right thing to do. He loves school, before long he's going to hate it. Why take that away from him?"

"His health."

Jack nodded and sighed. It was true that Troy had only been to school for less than a month and he had already contracted an illness. "I guess you're right," he said. "Troy's going to be heart broken."

"I know," Elaine said. "But, it's what's best for him."

"I hope you're right. I'll talk to the school tomorrow."

**I did a little research for this. Turns out, the chickenpox shot came to the U.S. In 1995 and if someone with a weak immune system, like Troy, could get a more severe case of chickenpox if they got it. So, there's my lesson.**

**Tell me what you think!**

**Review!**


	3. November 1996

**Hello! Thanks for the reviews. Here's the next one shot! Hope you like!**

_November 1996_

Troy walked ahead of Chad as the two entered their classroom. They were in first grade and Troy was already learning that some kids have a cruel sense of humor. "Troy," Chad yelled.

"Mr. Danforth," Ms. Hale said warningly. She gave him a look.

Chad smiled innocently, trying to get out of trouble. She sighed and walked to the front of the room. He rolled his eyes as she turned her back and when he knew she wasn't going to turn to face him, he stuck his tongue out.

It was common knowledge that Ms. Hale didn't like Chad and that he didn't like her. In fact, she let everyone pick their seats except Chad. He was forced to sit across the room form his best friend and Troy couldn't sit anywhere near Chad. Apparently, this was because neither of them focused when they sat beside each other.

That would have been a great excuse if she hadn't said that the second day of school.

"Class, settle down," Ms. Hale said. Once the first graders were sitting at their desks, she continued talking. "We have a new student coming today, and I would appreciate it if you made him feel comfortable. Cam do you have something to say?"

Cam, who was in a heated argument with Troy, turned to his teacher, smiling sweetly. "No Ms. Hale. I was just telling Shrimp – I mean _Troy_, over here that-"

But he was unable to finish because the door opened. A scared looking little boy entered with his red backpack. "Hello," Ms. Hale said to him. "You must be our new student. Why don't you introduce you're self to the class."

"Hi, I'm Zeke Baylor," he said.

"Why don't you sit next to...Troy. Troy raise your hand."

Troy's little hand shot up in the air and Zeke walked over to the empty chair on his right. As he walked over, Troy couldn't help but notice he was really tall. "Hi," Zeke said enthusiastically, excited at the thought of making his first friend at a new school.

"Hi," Troy said quietly back to him.

"How does sitting next to him make you feel Dwarf," Cam asked, laughing at his own little joke. Troy looked down at his hands in his lap. Zeke winced slightly at the comment Cam made and listened to Ms. Hale instead of listening to Troy and Cam fight.

At recess, Zeke stayed back with Troy, who took his time getting his lunch from his backpack. "So you're the new kid," said a voice from behind Zeke.

"Yeah, what's your name," Zeke asked.

"Chad," said the boy. His hair was all over the place and he wore a blue shirt and jean shorts. "And you've already met Troy." Then he turned his attention to Troy. "Dude, hurry up, we're missing recess!"

"I know," Troy said, grabbing his lunch. "Lets go."

The three walked out and threw their lunches against the wall of the school before running to the playground. The bell for lunch rang after a half an hour and the three ran to the wall to retrieve their lunches before going to the cafeteria.

"What do you have for lunch today Bolton?" Zeke looked up to see the boy who had teased Troy earlier. "A Miracle Grow sandwich?"

Cam and his friends laughed before walking to another table across the room. "Ignore them," Chad said giving Cam a hard glare.

"Well it's hard," Troy said, sounding hurt. "He used to be our friend."

"What happened," Zeke asked.

Chad shrugged. "Last year he came up to me and said we couldn't be friends anymore. Then he got a group of new friends, but he started being mean to Troy this year."

Zeke narrowed his eyes. "You shouldn't be judged on your height."

Troy just rolled his eyes and picked at his sandwich. Chad knew the comment had hit him hard. "Dude, you'll grow."

"How do you know?" Troy looked down at his sandwich before stuffing it back in his lunch bag. "I'll never be tall."

"You weren't going to be anyway. You're parents aren't very tall."

Troy sighed and looked out the window. Zeke looked at Chad, who just shook his head in response. Zeke found out they had gym class right before school let out, something that Chad was excited for. Zeke didn't know what they would do in gym. At his old school, all they did was little games like passing a huge ball around or somersaults.

Turns out, Albuquerque took gym seriously. They were doing basketball skills; dribbling, passing, shooting. Troy and Cam trying to out do the other and it seemed that Troy was winning by a small margin. When it was time to go, Cam glared at Troy before storming out of the gym with his friends. "Do you want to come with us," Troy asked Zeke as they were walking out of the school.

"Where are you going?"

"East High," Chad said. "Troy's dad works there, we always go. It's so much fun, you should come."

Zeke nodded and told the other two that he just needed to ask his mom. The three walked over to a red minivan. "Mom," Zeke said. "This is Troy and Chad, my new friends. I was wondering if I could go with them."

"Where are you going?"

"My dad works at the high school, we're going to walk over there and then probably go to my house," Troy told her.

"I don't see why not," she said. "Do you want a ride?"

Zeke was about to open his mouth but Troy beat him to it. "Oh no that's fine," Troy said sweetly. "It's right down the road, we don't even have to cross a street."

The three boys waved goodbye and they walked down the street to East High. Zeke's eyes widened looking at it's massive size. "Do you know where you're going," Zeke asked. "Are you sure we won't get lost?"

"Positive. My dad's been in the same room since he started working here," Troy told him as they climbed up a set of stairs. The halls were empty since East High let out an hour ago. "But we're not going there."

"Where are we going?"

"The gym," Chad said. "Troy's dad's the basketball coach. He's got practice. We're going to watch."

As the three first graders approached the gym they could hear a whistle and Coach Bolton tell them they could take a five minute water break. A group of juniors and seniors walked out toward the water fountain. Zeke's eyes widened seeing how tall they were. Upon seeing Zeke's face, Chad fell to the floor laughing.

"Hey Troy," one of the especially tall ones said, grabbing the little boy off the ground.

"How's Cap today," another one, who was slightly shorter, said.

"I'm doing pretty good," Troy told them. The shorter boy started to tickle Troy and his head flew back laughing.

"I thought I said water break," came a voice from the door. Coach Bolton had his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

"Sorry Coach," said the tall boy, putting Troy on the ground.

"That's okay Eric, you two just get in there." The two boys looked at each other and walked pass their coach and into the room. "Troy, I thought I said not to interrupt my practices."

"I didn't, it was a water break."

Jack chuckled and ruffled Troy's hair. "You know what I mean, these guys have to keep their heads-"

"-in the game," Troy finished for him. "I know. We're just going to watch."

"Alright," Jack said. "You can watch then I'll give you guys a ride home." He looked to Zeke, "who's this, you guys have a new friend?"

"Yep," Troy told his father proudly. "This is Zeke, he just moved in."

"Nice to meet you Zeke," Jack said. "Now, come on you three, get in the gym."

**So, what do you think. If you remember from the series, Zeke moved in in first grade and Jason in second grade. Cam also broke away from their group...**

**Review!**


	4. December 1998

**Okay, this one is really short, but I had to get something up on this story. It's been over a month since I've updated. Sorry for the long wait.**

_December 1998_

"Is this one mine?"

Troy rolled his eyes as Mack walked around picking up various boxes and shaking them. "Nope," she said when there was a small shattering sound. "How about this one?"

"Mack," Troy said. "Yours are in a pile, over there." He pointed to where Mack's present pile was. "See, you can shake those as much as you want and they won't break."

"Can I shake yours?"

Troy shook his head. "No. I don't like to shake mine."

"You're boring," she said, before sitting down with a round present wrapped in blue paper. She gasped. "I get to have a basketball! Just like you Troy! I want to be good."

Smiling, Troy watched his little sister ramble on about how she wanted to be the best player on the face of the earth. "I want to play for the...Lakers."

"You can't, that's a boys league."

"So," Mack yelled. "I'm better than them! Just the other day I punched Calum Boucher in the nose because he called me a baby."

Troy looked over at his little sister. "So that's why you got sent home."

"Yeah, he pulled my piggy's tail!"

"Pigtail," Troy corrected.

Mack stuck her tongue out and continued to walk around, picking up boxes and shaking them. "Do you think there's a puppy in this on?" she asked holding up a small triangular shaped box decorated with blue stars.

Troy shook his head. "I don't think so."

"How about a rhinosaurous?"

"A rhinoceros?"

"Yeah."

Troy chuckled. "There is definitely not a rhino in there. Do you know how big one of those are?" Mack shook her head. "They're huge."

"Oh," she bent down and grabbed a small bag. "What's this?"

"A bag," Troy told her.

"Why isn't it in a box?"

Troy rolled his eyes. "Because it's too small for a box."

Mack opened the bag and tore the tissue paper. "This is for you," she told him. "I think. Did you ask for a -"

"Don't tell me," Troy whined.

"Fine," Mack said, storming out of the room and into the kitchen. "Daddy," she yelled. "Troy yelled at me. He told me I was a...a..." she pause trying to come up with a good insult. "He called me a rhinosaurous."

"A rhinoceros," Jack asked, lifting the little girl on his lap.

"Yeah."

Jack laughed. "Well Mack, how about I tell you a special story."

"Does Troy get to hear it?" Mack asked, hoping she was getting special treatment.

"If he wants to."

She sighed and ran in the other room. Troy was trying to put the presents back where they were before Mack got a hold of them. "Daddy wants to know if you want to hear the special story."

Troy looked disgusted. "I'm a third grader, I'm too old for special stories."

Mack smiled and walked back to her father. "Okay, he doesn't care. Tell me, tell me. What's it about?"

"It's about a little girl named Princess," Jack said, coming up with the story off the top of his head. Jack knew that Mack had been lying about Troy yelling at her, so he decided to scare her with one of the 'you'll be punished' stories.

"One day Princess told a terrible lie to try and get her older brother Prince in trouble. Now, their father the king knew that Princess was lying, so he told her to go outside and place an apple on her head. If she had been telling the truth, a worm would magically appear out of the apple. Princess thought her father was just trying to scare her so she put the apple on her head. When the worm didn't appear, the king sent her away to a far away land to learn from her bad deed-"

"Daddy I lied!"

Jack turned around so he could chuckle, then he turned around again and faced his daughter. "You did?" he said in faked astonishment. "My perfect daughter? No," he teased.

"I did," she said worriedly. "Troy never yelled at me. He just wouldn't let me tell him what his present was."

"Now Mack, some people don't like to snoop around the presents."

Mack hung her head. "I know. You're not going to send me away are you?"

Jack shook his head. "Just don't lie again. It's a bad habit."

She nodded and ran back into the living room. "Troy," she said, sitting beside him on the rug. "I'm sorry I almost told you what your present was."

Troy just rolled his eyes and continued to stare at the lit up Christmas tree.

**Again, sorry it's so short. But tell me how it is and what you'd like to see.**

**Review!**


	5. September 2001

**Okay, about the last chapter. I had redone it so many times, that I forgot to redo the date. It was actually supposed to be 1998, instead, so I fixed it. Now it reads December 1998. Thanks to PeRfEcT186 for pointing that out.**

_September 2001_

"Yeah, well," Mack yelled at a brown haired boy as she looked around to find a good come back. "My brother's a better basketball player!"

Calum's mouth formed a complete circle. "He is not! Your brother's a baby!"

Mack's eyes narrowed and her nose scrunched. "Is not! Is not! Is not!" she yelled as Calum teased her, jumping around telling her Troy was nothing but a baby. She covered her ears to block out Calum's voice.

A blond boy beside Calum laughed. "He is too," he sneered.

"Oh shut up Adam!"

"Oh, we got a feisty one here Cal," Adam said. The group of boys they were with smiled and chuckled at Adam's words.

When the group was laughing, Mack took this chance as her escape. She ran to the tree near the edge of the school's property and pulled her knees to her chest. Calum looked sadly at her, feeling bad for hurting her feelings.

You see, Calum had a crush on Mack that he could tell no one about. He figured it he argued and 'hated' Mack enough, the feeling would go away. But, each time he yelled at her, the feeling of needing her grew stronger. Each time he told his family he'd out done her in one way or another, he wanted to see her.

"Boys," he heard Ms. Harrison say. "Come here quick!"

"This isn't fair!" Adam yelled. "You said we could play outside for gym!"

"Boys, just hurry."

The group ran toward their teacher and she led the class inside. "What's going on?" Keisha asked as Ms. Harrison led them back to their classroom.

"There's a guy with a gun," Adam joked.

Keisha started to scream and everyone covered their ears. When their regular teacher came in, Adam ran up to her. "What's going on Ms. Wincher?"

The teacher looked caught off guard. "Um," she said. "There's wasps on the playground. Now, everyone get under your desks."

The kids did as they were told, but in the chaos, Calum noticed Mack wasn't in the room. "Ms. Wincher," he said, trying to get her attention. "Ms. Wincher!"

"Calum, please. Just do as you're told."

Calum was about to get under his desk when Adam scared Bailey and her head hit her desk. She started howling in pain and Ms. Wincher's attention was at the other end of the room. Calum made a split second decision and left the room to go get Mack.

As he walked toward the door, he passed the teacher's lounge where a few teachers were watching something on the television. A plane flew into the side of a tall building and Calum was mesmerized for a moment. The teachers started flipping channels and the same plane hit the same building on every one. Shaking his head, he ran out of the doorway and toward the playground. He didn't know if the reason why their gym class was cut short was because of the plane, but he knew Mack needed to be safe inside.

"Mack!" he yelled. "Mack!"

"Calum." He turned hearing her whimper. She was hiding in the alcove of the door. "There's a guy out here," she said. "He's looking in all the windows."

Calum's heart was pounding. Hearing a shattering sound, he grabbed Mack's hand and led her to the playground. They hid in a slide and Calum wrapped his arms around her. "I'm scared," she whispered.

"Me too."

2001

"Ms. Wincher," Adam whispered. "Calum's gone."

Ms. Wincher's eyes widened. "Mack's not here either," Bailey whispered.

"Shh," she said. "They're in another classroom." Ms. Wincher then crawled across the room and picked up a phone. She dialed a number and waited for the principal to pick up. "Mr. Garland," she whispered. "I'm missing two."

She nodded and put down the phone. The blinds were down in the room and the kids were huddled in a corner. They were instructed to be silent, they didn't know the reason, but they knew they had to be quiet for their own good.

Suddenly they heard sirens and each of them squeezed their eyes shut.

2001

"Do you have all your kids?" a police officer asked Mr. Garland as a police car pulled in.

"I'm missing two," he said worriedly. "Two third graders. Mack Bolton and Calum Boucher."

The police officer nodded and told it to his other officers. Parents were starting to show up to pick up their kids and one officer was standing by them, holding them back. "Hold on," he told them. "This is still a crime scene."

"Oh my word," Serena Montello said putting a hand to mouth. "I just want to see my daughter. I want to see Bailey, I want to make sure she's okay."

"I can assure you, everything is fine but you need to get into your cars," the officer said to the not listening parents.

"What nut would go around with a gun on a day like today?" Mike Duval asked a few other parents as they stood waiting for their kids. "Especially to an elementary school."

"I just want to see my baby!"

"Can't you let them out."

"They're scared!"

The officer's radio buzzed. "Check the slides for the kids," came a voice.

"Check the slides?" Bailey's mother gasped. "They weren't all in the school? What kind of safety measures did this school do!"

Jack Bolton jumped out of his car and ran toward the front with Ms. Darbus, Mr. Leely and Mr. Matsui. "Move it," he yelled. "We're from the high school."

The sea of parents split to let them through. "They said they needed more hands," Jack said as they neared the officer. He nodded and let the four teachers through and into the school. More cars with teachers from West High pulled up.

"Mr. Bolton," Bailey yelled when he walked into the class. "Does this mean we're okay?"

He didn't reply. "We need everyone in the gym," he told Ms. Wincher before leaving the class to go to another room.

Up a level, Ms. Darbus ran from classroom to classroom. "Go to the library!" she said in a shrill voice.

2001

"Hey," the police officer said as he stuck his head in the entrance of the slide.

"Ah!" Mack and Calum screamed, thinking it was the man they saw looking in the windows. "Go down," Calum told her.

The two slid down and ran as far away from the playground as they could. As they were running a man was running behind them. "Run faster!" Calum said.

"I can't," Mack yelled. "He's gaining on us."

"Here," he said grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the school. At the door, Calum pulled the handle, but the door was locked. "Pound!"

The two hit their little fists on the bright blue doors. "Help," they yelled.

"Hey," the officer that was chasing them said. "Albuquerque police."

Not believing him, they pounded harder. "Got 'em," one of the officers said into the radio as his coworker grabbed the two of them in his arms and bringing them inside.

**So, what did you think? Well, this actually kind of happened. When I was in elementary school on 9/11 some guy was going around town with a gun. It was pretty scary and we had to go into lock down. Obviously it wasn't this bad because all our kids were indoors, but...still.  
**

**Review!**


	6. June 2004

**Okay, long wait. But, hope you like this.**

_June 2004_

"Dude! What happened?"

Calum looked down to the ground as Mack passed him with a look of hate on her face. She shook her head before leading Keisha and Bailey down the hallway. Calum put on a smile as Adam and Teagan rushed up, followed by a few others. "It's nothing," Calum said.

"If you haven't noticed, you _huge_ bruise on-"

"On my eye!" Calum yelled, interrupting Adam. "I know!"

"Where'd you get it?" Teagan asked. Both boys were clearly worried for their friend.

"Um...Cam and I got in a fight last night," Calum told them. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Nothing out of the ordinary, I'm may not be a specialist but," Adam said. "My parents would kill me if I got in a fight with my brothers, much less beat them up."

"Look," Calum said, as they walked through the door of the school. "It's nothing. My eye and its purpleness is not important."

"But-"

"Hush," Calum said, putting a finger to his lips. "It's nothing, and I got to go. Cam's waiting."

Teagan shook his head. "You're going home with him, after he did that to you?" he asked confused.

Calum rolled his eyes. "We live in the same house, we're going to have to meet up sometime, better sooner rather than later. Look, guys, it's nothing. I'll call you later." He turned his back on his friends and walked across the schoolyard. He passed Mack and tried his best to give her an intimidating look. "Bolton."

"Boucher."

Mack watched his retreating back and shook her head with disgust. If there was someone she disliked more than Calum Boucher, she hadn't met them yet. What she didn't know, was the feeling wasn't mutual. She may have disliked him, but he was far from disliking her. For Calum, the hate was an act.

"Mack!" She looked over her shoulder to see her father's car. "Hurry up! I got to go check on your brother before going back to the school."

"Is he sick again?" she asked as she shut the door.

"Yeah," Jack said. "He got sent home from first block." There was a moment of silence before Jack spoke to his daughter again. "I've a meeting, I'm going to need you to look after him. You're going to need to check his temperature, because I know he won't. Call me if it's over a hundred."

Mack nodded as the car pulled to a stop in their driveway. Jack jogged to the front door and unlocked it. He walked into the living room and Mack followed behind. "How are you feeling?" he asked Troy.

"Better," Troy said. "Not great, but okay."

"Have you eaten anything?"

Troy nodded, turning down the volume on the television. "Jello."

Jack sighed slightly. "You kept it down right," he said. Troy nodded again. "Just try and get some sleep. Mack will be here if you need anything. I don't want you off the couch."

"Alright."

Jack ruffled Troy's hair and kissed Mack's forehead before grabbing a stack of papers on his way out the door. Mack smiled and shook her head. It was really tough for him when her mom was out of town, especially when Troy was sick.

"So," she said, sitting in a chair. "Do you want any soup or something?"

Troy shook his head. "I hate this, I have to get served by a twelve year old."

"Actually, eleven. I haven't turned twelve yet," Mack said. "Don't worry, I'm responsible."

"I don't doubt it," Troy said. "But, in normal families, isn't the older sibling that has to babysit the younger sibling? I think we have it backwards."

"How are you supposed to babysit me if you have the flu?" she asked. "If you need anything I'll be in the kitchen. I'll come in later to check you temp and I'll bring you soup. Extra noodles and not a lot of broth, just the way you like it."

She was almost out of the room when she heard his voice. "Hey Mack?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," he said. "If I ever need a babysitter, I'll call you."

She smiled. "Now get some rest!" she demanded in a caring tone, turning off the television and throwing him a blanket.

**So...tell me what you think and any ideas? **


	7. November 2005

**So, this is a Calum chapter. It's all about his feelings (mostly for Mack.) Hope you like!**

_November 2005_

Calum finished his work and looked across the room. He and Mack were in the same math class and he found himself staring at her quite often. When he told his brother – leaving out that the girl was Mack – Cam had laughed and said it was the eight grade hormones kicking in.

Mack shook her head and frantically erased one of her answers. Calum smiled; math wasn't Mack's strong point like it was for him. He looked away from Mack for a moment and up at the clock. Class was getting out in a few minutes, meaning Mack was going to have homework because her paper wasn't finished.

The bell rang and Calum grabbed his binders before walking out the door and toward his locker. Adam was already waiting for him when he got there. "Stalker," Calum said to the blond boy leaning against the set of red lockers.

Adam shrugged and moved away letting Calum undo his lock. "We have try outs remember," Adam said. "Not that you need to try out like the rest of us. Coach Diego was looking at your technique all try out yesterday. He was, like, in awe of you."

"I wouldn't say that," Calum said modestly.

"I would," Teagan said walking up. "You just didn't look at him. He's in love with your-"

"I agree with Teag," Adam interrupted. "He's in love with you."

Teagan groaned. "I was going to say he's in love with Calum's style, not him. Jeez, Adam, Diego's got a wife."

Adam shrugged. "What ever. Ah! Here comes the 'East High Girls'."

Calum turned around and shut his locker just in time to see Mack, Bailey, and Keisha stop in front of the group of boys. "What do you want," Adam sneered.

Mack's eyes narrowed at Adam before turning to Calum. "I wanted to say good luck Boucher."

"Why?" Teagan asked.

"Because," Keisha interjected. "She wants the boys team to do well too because she's actually got a heart, unlike you fools."

"That's enough Keish," Mack said, holding up her hand and starting to walk away. "We don't want them to feel bad about themselves."

"Why don't you say that to my face, Bolton!" Adam yelled after her.

Mack turned on her heel and walked up to Adam putting her face centimeters from his. They were so close they could feel each other's breath on their skin. "You're a jerk, Duval," she hissed. "Go hide in a ditch."

"Why don't you go run to your brother?" Adam hissed back.

"I'd like to see you up against Troy," Bailey snickered from behind them. "_Oh, Troy, I'm sorry. That was your sister? I didn't realize that_," she said mocking him.

"I wouldn't do that," Adam said.

"Oh, wait, Bailey, you're wrong and he's right," Keisha joked. "He wouldn't do that. He'd just run away because he knows Troy can kick his butt."

The three girls laughed and walked down the hallway of the school. "Man, if she wasn't such a...ugh!" Adam yelled. "I'm so glad we're getting rid of her next year. We won't have to see her again."

"Until she gets her face in the newspaper," Teagan said. "Ms. Basketball."

"Bad part is we have to share a bus with their girls basketball team to away games," Calum said, trying to hide the fact he hadn't talked the entire time Mack had been there.

Adam groaned. "Oh I know! It's so stupid. I'd rather go with the seventh grade boys."

"Me too," Teagan said, pushing the door to the gym open.

"Boucher!" they heard. Calum looked over and caught the ball Jeremy Pollard had thrown at him. "How do you think the team's going to be this year?" Jeremy asked.

Calum bounced the ball back and shrugged. "Same as last year, a little better maybe."

"Well, next year, our team's going to be unstoppable," Jeremy explained. "We're all going to West High and have played together since forever, unlike those stupid East High kids coming from, like, eight different schools."

"Eight?" Calum asked, knowing Jeremy was exaggerating.

"You know what I mean."

Calum smiled and followed Teagan and Adam into the locker room to get changed. The entire time he was thinking about what Jeremy said. _We're all going to West High..._

Of course, Calum knew he was going to have to attend West High, in the back of his mind, he really didn't want to go. In fact, he was dreading it. At West High he would be known as Cam's little brother and cherished as if he was a god. At East High he'd get picked on for the same reasons he'd be loved at West. For Calum, it was a lose lose situation.

Calum dominated at try outs as he had the first day, securing his spot on the team. Not that anyone questioned if Calum was going to be on the team. Coach Diego had known before the try outs even started he would probably be picking Calum. He was just happy Mack was a girl. The worst year in his coaching career had been when Troy and Cam both played for him. Neither passed to each other, making the coach make them a sub for each other. It had been hard because each group of friends hated each other just as much as they hated each other.

Walking home after try outs, Calum was silent. Teagan and Adam were laughing and talking, completely unaware that usually talkative Calum hadn't said a word. His thoughts were on why he had done so well at the try outs, a certain Bolton.

A certain Bolton he knew was going to make his life hard. Calum was going to have to keep his feelings for Mack a secret because if he told anyone, it wouldn't be good. Not only would Mack use it to torment him, but his family would turn against him. Neither the Boltons or the Bouchers liked each other, and Calum liking Mack was disturbing the chain.

**So, Calum's starting to realize something...hmm...**

**Anyway, tell me what you think!**


	8. December 2005

**Hi! This is just a short one about what Mack did to Troy's girlfriend Claire if any of you remember her. She's mentioned in chapter 42 of Stay Away From MY Sister.**

**Enjoy!**

_December 2005_

"We have got to do something!" Mack wailed, staring out the window at her brother. Troy was sitting underneath the tree in their backyard with a love sick smile on his face. He had just finished talking to his girlfriend Claire.

"Mack, what would we do?" Keisha asked, staring at her pink nail polish which was beginning to chip. "It's not like she's wanted to murder in five states. She just-"

"Overly perky and obsessed with my brother!"

Bailey shrugged. "It could be worse."

"Yeah, she could have hairy feet."

"Keisha!" Mack screamed. "I don't care about that! What her feet are like is what her feet are like. I just don't like how everything my brother says has the C word in it!"

Mack walked to away from the window and sat down on her bed. "We need to get him to realize they are totally wrong for each other."

"Why do I have a feeling this is not going to end pretty?"

A sandy brown eyebrow raised at Bailey. "Not all stories have happy endings," Mack told her.

* * *

"Big Hawk, this is Little Duck. The bird has flown the coop." 

Bailey looked at the walkie talkie disgustedly and Mack laughed so hard she was near tears. "Keisha, if you're going to be in charge of following Claire, you need to talk in a language I know," Bailey said. "Like English!"

"Fine," came a voice. "Claire's in her car."

"Good," Mack said, grabbing the walkie talkie out of Bailey's hand. "Make sure she gets to my house in perfect condition."

With a click, Mack turned the walkie talkie off and hopped off her bed. "Ready?" she asked Bailey. The other girl shook her head slightly at what they were about to do before following Mack out of the room.

"Why?" Bailey asked the ceiling. "Why couldn't Troy go to boarding school and get married before he got back?"

"Bailey!" Mack hissed. "Be quiet! She's coming."

There was a knock on the door and the two girls hid behind the wall, looking at the contraption they had set up. Goop. Big, orange globs of it, were in a bucket situated perfectly so it would fall on Claire when she entered. Then, the girl would slip and get covered in gallons of slimy syrup. Finally, she'd be covered in feathers. And they learned all of this from "The Parent Trap."

The door inched open and both girls smiled. "Troy?" came Claire's voice. "You said-Ah!"

Mack and Bailey erupted into laughter as the bucket of goop landed on Claire's perfect blond hair and landed on her expensive purple outfit. Her arms were flailing when her high heel landed in a pile of jello, resulting in her fall on a string that pulled the syrup and feathers.

Claire's face looked angry and she searched the room with her eyes. "Troy! Is this some kind of joke?"

The eyes of the younger girls sparkled, knowing that Claire thought it was Troy. That was even better, they hadn't thought that would happen. It was an added bonus.

Claire stood up and pulled out her cell phone, which was now very slimy, angrily pressing buttons. "Sara! I'm coming over, I need to talk to you! It's about Bolton," she yelled as she slammed the door to the Bolton house shut.

Mack and Bailey shared a look. "That was fun," Mack said.

"Now we should clean up," Bailey said. "We have a half hour before your brother's practice ends."

"Shoot!" Mack exclaimed, her blue eyes widening. "Hopefully, it runs late."

**So, that was definitely a Mack one shot. Anyway, any ideas are greatly appreciated. I think the next one shot will have been on or after New Years, so Gabriella will most likely be in it.**

**Review!**


	9. January 2006

**So, here is the next one shot, hope you like.**

_January 2006_

"So Mack," Bailey said. "I didn't know your brother sang."

The girls were walking down the hall, chatting as they normally did on their way out of the school. "I didn't either," Mack said. "In some ways I hope they beat Sharpay and Ryan today, but in someways I don't, you know?"

"Not a clue," Keisha said. "Never had that problem."

"How are they going to get to the game and the auditions?" Bailey asked.

Mack shrugged. "I don't know. Hopefully Troy decides to come to the game. I don't know if I could handle my dad yelling at him for skipping the game for some 'musical audition!'" She shut her eyes and held her hands out in front of her. "Troy Alexander Bolton! How could you skip the most important game of the season!" she yelled imitating her father's reaction.

"Mack, watch out!"

She opened her eyes right as she came in contact with another person. Squinting her eyes closed, she landed on the floor with a body directly on top of her. She blinked, opening her eyes. Blue eyes met brown and Mack felt her heart racing.

Her eyes widened. What was happening to her? Calum Boucher was on her and her heart was pounding. She bit her lip and felt Calum tense on top of her. Their faces were centimeters apart, she could feel his raged breath on her skin. Shockingly, she liked being in the position. She liked Calum's touch.

"Duval! Get your friend off Mack!" Bailey screamed, bringing Mack out of her thoughts. Adam helped Calum up and Mack felt a slight bit of emptiness when his body stopped touching hers. Was it possible that she could like, actually like, a Boucher?

"Come on Mack," Keisha said. "Let's go."

As the two pulled Mack toward the doors, Mack kept looking back at Calum. It seemed that he was doing the same. Once she couldn't see him anymore she looked up at the clouds. What just happened?

What ever it was, Mack wanted it to happen again. Suddenly, she saw Calum in a completely differently light. Suddenly, he was cute. He wasn't a Boucher anymore in her mind. He was Calum. He was human.

Confusion spread across her face. "Huh?" she whispered, just soft enough so that Bailey and Keisha, who were off in a conversation, couldn't hear.

'It's just a crush, Mack,' she told herself. 'It will pass with time. You'll see.'

She didn't know how wrong she was.

* * *

"Calum!"

He was brought out of his thoughts by Adam. He had been thinking of Mack, of the experience that had just happened. Did Mack know he liked her? He didn't move once he walked into her. "Ugh," he groaned.

"What?" Teagan asked. "Come on, we have to get our face paint on. Game starts at three thirty."

"And, we still have to get to East High," Adam added. He turned to Teagan. "Remind me again why East High gets the advantage of home court."

"They have a better record," Teagan said. "Not that they'll win today. I heard Bolton's not showing."

"What?" Calum said shocked.

"Yeah," Teagan said. "According to Missy, her sister – gossip girl of the century – said Troy's auditioning for some part in a stupid play and skipping the game."

Adam snorted with laughter. "How about we go to that instead! We already know who's going to win the game. Why not watch Bolton make a complete idiot of himself."

"Hey he might not-" Calum stopped himself from saying anything good about Troy. "I mean, I've got to cheer my brother on."

"Well," Adam said. "You might want some blue and gold face paint then."

* * *

Jack put his arm in the sleeve of his blazer and walked over to the bench where Troy was tying his shoes. Elaine had yelled at him the previous night about putting too much pressure on Troy. She was right, Jack did place more pressure on Troy than he did any other player on the team. Sometimes, Jack forgot Troy wasn't just a basketball boy.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, adjusting the coat. Troy continued tying his shoe and for a moment, Jack thought he wasn't going to answer him.

"Nervous," Troy said, looking up from his white shoe for a split second.

"Yeah," Jack said, adjusting his tie, feeling kind of awkward in the somewhat forced conversation. "Me too." He cleared his throat before adding, "wish I could suit up and play along side you," because he knew Troy would comment.

"Hey, you had your turn," Troy said with a smile, swinging around on the bench.

Jack chuckled a little before sitting on the bench in front of Troy. "You know what I want from you today?"

"The championship," Troy said.

"Well," Jack said, trying to relieve some of Troy's unneeded pressure. "That'll either come or it won't." Troy looked down at the floor. Jack's plan hadn't worked exactly as he planned. "What I want is for you to have fun."

Troy looked up at Jack, his blue eyes twinkling. A twinkle, Jack hadn't seen for some time. It was the twinkle that would appear in Troy's eyes when Christmas came and there were bright colored boxes under the tree. It was the twinkle that Troy's blue eyes held when something happened that made him smile, and around Jack, Troy hadn't smiled a whole lot in the passed weeks.

Jack continued with the rant he'd prepared, hoping Troy would feel better about himself and the upcoming game. "I know all about the pressure. And probably too much of it has come from me. What I really want is to see my son, having the time of his life, playing the game we both love. You give me that, and I'll sleep with a smile on my face no matter how the score comes out."

A grin broke out on Troy's face and Jack smiled. This was the old Troy, his little soldier. That was why they named Troy what they did. They hadn't even thought about names when Troy came along and searching through the books, they found out Troy meant 'foot soldier'.

"Thanks Coach – ah," Troy shook his head slightly and made a face. "Dad."

**So, cute...aww...so the last part was basically the movie, but with Jack's thoughts. Anyway...**

**Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. No Gabriella in this one, but maybe soon...hmm...**

**Review!**


	10. September 2006

**Okay, sorry it's been so long.**

**This chapter is after Cam transfers to East High.**

_September 2006_

Troy, Chad, Cam, Zeke, and Jason were walking around the school waiting for their practice to start. Even though it was only September, Coach Bolton had the team come in once a week to condition and keep their skills up. Their practice wasn't until four and the five had walked up and down the street talking for an hour and a half. The clock read three thirty.

"Let's just go to the gym," Cam said, leading the way. He opened the door and a woman's voice was heard yelling 'set it!' 'nice try!' and 'go, go, go!' Cam was mesmerized as he watched the volleyball team hit the ball back and forth over the net. It looked so much more intense than gym volleyball.

"Meghan, your serve," the coach said, passing the ball to a medium height brunette who was dressed in her East High practice uniform.

Cam's eyes watched her as she served the ball with grace. There was something about her, the way she moved, that made Cam look at her as not another girl. He was almost dazed looking at her. She turned around and offered him a quick smile before turning back to the pickup game.

"Cam, dude!" Chad yelled from the doors to the locker room. Cam turned and jogged to his friends.

"I didn't know East High had a girls volleyball team," Cam said when he got there.

"Oh yeah," Troy said offhandedly.

"They practice practically all year," Jason said. "Though, I've never heard of their games."

"I think I heard of them winning once," Zeke voiced.

Chad nodded. "Yeah, that big game they had last year. My sister said they're good."

Troy looked back at Cam who was looking out the door at the girls. Their practice had just ended and Meghan was talking to them about the next day. Cam had a small smile on his face. "Hey guys," Troy said in a sing-song voice. "I think Cam's in love!"

That turned Cam around. "Shut up!" Cam yelled. "I am not!"

"Why?" Zeke asked. "Is there a law saying Cam Boucher can't be in love?"

"Look, guys," Cam said. "Come on, I don't even know her."

Chad walked across the room to stand by Cam who was still looking out at the girls. "But I do. Her name's Meghan Viccerelli and she's captain of the volleyball team. She's got a few classes with me. She's nice."

Cam turned his back and walked toward his locker. He grabbed his jersey out and changed into it, number 2 written in white on his back. He looked into the mirror on the wall opposite him, looking at himself and sighing. His face was bruised and scarred from his father's most recent return.

"Cam," Troy said. "Go talk to her."

"Like this," Cam said shaking his head. "All bruised? What girl would give me the time of day?"

"You didn't get into a fight," Zeke told him. "It was your dad, it wasn't your fault."

"But she wouldn't know," Cam said, kicking the red lockers. "Nobody knows. My reputation as a fighter is always going to be with me. Like they'd believe that it was my dad, my dad that could careless about me."

Cam put his head in his hands and Zeke sat beside him, putting his arms around his shoulders. "Your dad has a problem, Cam, any man that hurt his son – his sons – isn't a man at all," Zeke said. "He's a coward."

The smaller boy just shook his head and looked to the ground before getting up and removing his shirt. He looked into the mirrors. Bruised, cut, scarred. "I'm just happy I got Calum out of there."

A tear trickled down his cheek remembering what Daniel Boucher had done to Calum about five months before. Calum had been in a coma from the beating he'd gotten, barely alive when Chad had found him outside their home. "And he's out roaming around," Cam said, referring to his father. "If he hurts Calum like he did before, I'll never be able to live with myself."

"He won't," Jason said, leaning against the lockers. "Calum's got a great big brother looking out for him."

Noise was heard as the rest of the basketball team entered the locker room, opening their lockers and laughing. "Hey guys!" a few yelled to the group.

Cam put his shirt on hastily and flung off his jeans, pulling on his Wildcat shorts and storming out of the room, nearly toppling Coach Bolton over on his way out. "Is he okay?" Jack asked, clearly knowing that Cam wasn't okay after the night the boy had been through a few days before. Jack had gotten Cam after Calum had run to the Bolton home when their father arrived at their home unannounced.

"Yeah, Dad," Troy said sarcastically. "He's just fine," he added before swiftly walking passed him.

Chad's eyes fell to the ground. Troy had been acting weird ever since the first day of school when he fell to the ground in pain. Of course, being Troy, he didn't want anyone to know, so Chad had to be quiet. The lack of talking on Chad's part caused some concern since it was out of the ordinary.

Practice was easy and very quiet. Coach Bolton didn't want to push Cam too hard, but told the group it was because they had done an excellent job at the the last practice. As the practice went, Chad noticed that the conversation that the group had had in the in the locker room was starting to wear away. Cam started laughing at a joke Zeke made (which was really bad in Chad's opinion), making everyone realize that he was back to normal and the room became filled with noise.

"Hey, Cam!" Troy yelled when their practice was almost over. "Someone's watching you!"

Cam, and the rest of the team as well, turned to the door as discretely as possible to see three of the girls from the volleyball team watching them. One of them was Meghan and Cam looked to Troy, giving him a look.

"Troy, leave me alone!" he yelled before taking a very difficult shot, scoring, and looking back to see Meghan's reaction. She was smiling and Cam smiled at Troy.

"You know what," he said, walking toward Troy. "I really like East High, it's a very nice school, with a superb volleyball team," he whispered.

Troy snorted and walked away from Cam, who was now showing off, and to Chad. "Dude, he's got it bad."

"Yeah," Chad said. "I know, he's beating my team, by himself, by like a hundred points!"

"Shouldn't you be out there?"

"I fouled out," Chad said, winking. The two of the started to laugh and watched Zeke and Jason desperately try to stop Cam. "Plus," Chad added. "It's a whole lot more fun to watch this on the sidelines, no?"

"I couldn't agree with you more," Troy said.

**So, how did you like it? **

**Poor Cam, he got made fun of...and beat up by his dad...but he's a tough kid, he can handle it.**

**Okay, tell me what you think and any ideas you have!**

**Review!**


	11. December 2006

**Okay, next chapter thing! Yeah!**

_December 2006_

Mack laid her head on Calum's chest, tears falling steadily down her face. His arms wrapped around her small frame and he looked to the sky. It was a bright blue color that rivaled Mack's eyes in beauty, but today, Calum wouldn't have minded if it was cloudy.

He touched the soft soil the two were sitting on and shook his head. Fourteen, too young to be buried.

Mikaela had been one of the greatest people he'd known. She was smart, funny, fun to be with, overall she was full of life – only ironic because she was dying of cancer. She's looked relatively healthy until the end, and had Calum not know she was sick, he wouldn't have thought anything was out of the ordinary. But, he did know.

Her funeral had been wonderful. In her fourteen years, she touched more people than Calum thought he knew. The entire church were the services were held was packed and some people were standing in the back. There wasn't a dry eye in the place when Mikaela's mom Charley offered a heart wrenching remembrance of her daughter's spirit and lively personality.

"Calum?"

He looked down at Mack, but didn't say a word. She continued, "I...I can't believe it."

"I know," he said after a slight pause. "I can't either."

For the rest of the day, as the sun beat down, they sat, neither moving from the safe arms of the other.

* * *

Calum hit his head off the gym wall. He really messed things up. Mack's heart was still grieving Mikaela, it hadn't even been a week, and he'd screwed up. Of course, he didn't know it was going to happen. Alyx had popped up out of no where and he hadn't wanted to kiss her. And Mack just had to walk in right as Alyx pressed herself against him.

Now Mack was no where to be found and it was entirely his fault.

Adam and Teagan had left with Bailey and Keisha, all of them trying to help in the search. Mack had been gone for hours and no one could get in contact with her. Calum's heart was breaking, just like Mack's had when she walked into the gym. He'd only gone to get his backpack, but Alyx apparently wanted more than an IOU for the precious bag.

He laid down on the court and looked up at the ceiling. No one was there, they were all looking for the missing Bolton child. Calum couldn't move. He just laid there helplessly. He loved Mack and the thought that she was hurting made him hurt. It only made it hurt worse that he was the person making her hurt.

He didn't know what was happening to her either. If she was getting attacked by her kidnapper, he'd never forgive himself. If she died, he would die too. If anything bad happened to her, he'd run far and wide. The further away from her would be better, then he wouldn't hurt her.

He stood up after an hour of laying on the floor and walked home. On his way, Adam called to tell him that they found Mack and she was okay. Cam was sitting at the table finishing his lab report when Calum laid his head miserably on the table. "What's up?" Cam asked looking up.

Calum looked up. "My life is ruined and I'm going to have to run away."

Cam just shook his head, and Calum thought it was to his statement, until Cam started frantically erasing a sentence on his paper. "How does this sound-"

"Cam!"

Cam rolled his eyes. "What am I supposed to say? 'Oh, poor baby, let's make hot cocoa for little Cal?' I don't think so," he said looking up. "Plus, you're not even old enough to have your life ruined. You're fourteen!"

"I'll be fifteen soon."

"Ooh," Cam muttered under his breath. "Big difference." He pushed the lab report to the side. "I won't finish it anyway with you whining. Tell me, what's up? What happened?"

"Alyx happened," Calum replied flatly.

"What is an 'Alyx' and does it have anything to with your life being 'ruined' by any chance?"

Calum rolled his eyes. "An 'Alyx' is a girl and she kissed me." He paused. "Then Mack walked in." Cam's eyes looked at him as if he had done something very wrong, making Calum look down at his brother's discarded paper. "Then Mack ran out and got kidnapped."

"Yeah, I knew the second part," Cam said, his eyes narrowing. "You're the reason why this happened? Troy called me and told me about Mack. You tell me about Alyx...now!" he exploded.

"She had my backpack and wanted something in return for it-"

"So you kissed her!" Cam yelled, his face clearly showing that he was disappointed in Calum.

"No," Calum said quietly, knowing his argument wasn't going to fly. "She kissed me."

"But, you kissed back?!"

"I didn't mean to!" Calum yelled back, getting flustered and standing from his seat. He stood there for a moment before playing with the hem of his shirt. "Mack in the hospital."

"I know," Cam said, his eyes still narrowed. "Chad called with that a little after Troy called. Did you know he got shot? Troy, in the arm."

Calum shook his head. "No," he said as he sat down at the table and laid his head down. Now Troy and Mack were going to hate him, he just knew it.

"You don't know who shot him, do you?" Again, Calum just shook his head. "Dad did."

"Dad," Calum croaked.

"He's dead, Calum. Dad." Cam didn't seem the least bit phased by the information. "About time too. I'm sure he's been planning Mack's capture for a long time. He had a place all ready."

"But," Calum said, trying to piece together all the information. "He's dead."

"Yeah."

**So...yeah**

**Review!**


	12. Prom Night 2007!

**Yes, the next chapter and it has to do with the prom of Troy and the gang. Hmm...**

_Prom Night 2007_

Jack looked toward the door where her heard laughter. It was after the prom and he knew the three voices. They were his son, Chad, and Cam, all laughing insanely at something Jack couldn't see. He just shook his head and looked back at the newspaper he was holding, having not found enough time to read it before then, which was past eleven.

Something was dropped on the kitchen table in front of him and slowly his eyes moved from the paper to the three boys. In the middle of the table was a red and white painted cardboard crown.

"Have you ever heard of a Prom 'Prince', Coach?" Cam asked, the laughter completely gone.

"What?" Jack asked.

"A Prom Prince," Chad said, barely able to keep his laughter in. "Not Prom King, Prom Prince."

All Jack did was shake his head and Troy wrapped an arm around Cam's shoulder. "Well, you're looking directly at the first ever, East High School Prom Prince, Cam Boucher." He put a hand over his heart affectionately. "And the Prom King, Troy Bolton."

"And you're also looking at the deciding vote," Cam said through his teeth. "His name begins with a 'Ch' and ends with an 'ad'."

"I couldn't decide," Chad said, sitting beside Jack. "It was so hard, because I knew it was going to be close. Which one to pick, Troy or Cam? It was so hard that I just had to put my name in the 'other' box and vote for myself!"

"Making the score Troy: 423, Cam: 422, and Chad: 1," Troy finished.

Cam held up the cardboard crown. "Now, being the first Prom Prince is very honoring and all, but they couldn't have put more effort into the crown could they! I mean come on! They probably bought a kid's meal at Burger King and painted over the hat!"

Mack and Elaine walked into the kitchen, Mack in her pajamas, to see what the noise was. "Nice crown, Cam," Mack said. "Did you steal it from a little kid?"

"See!" Cam yelled as Troy and Chad burst into laughter. "I told you!"

"Cam, we didn't disagree, the crown's pathetic," Chad said, the first to gain control.

Across the neighborhood, Gabriella, Taylor, Sharpay, and Meghan were also talking about the prom, although not about Cam's crown.

"It was so pretty," Sharpay gushed to Ms. Montez. "They had it all decked out."

"Yeah," Gabriella agreed, playing with her Prom Queen crown in her lap, which was covered by the dark pink material of her dress. She couldn't help but laugh thinking about the night they'd had. Sharpay had convinced the guys to have ties that matched their girlfriends' dresses. Troy had on a dark pink tie, almost the exact color of Gabriella's dress, and had played with it the entire night, not liking it one bit.

Chad had worn a lime green tie after he and Taylor spent four hours at the mall searching for the right dress and tie combination. Taylor's dress was green and silver with sparkles. Chad's tie was the same color. And, to make the night perfect, Chad had his basketball in the back of Cam's truck. He pulled it out after the dance when they were all going home.

Sharpay bought Zeke's attire, without him knowing, four months before the prom. It was a simple red tie, nothing over the top, which surprised the boys. Of course, just because Zeke's tie was simple didn't mean Sharpay's dress wasn't extravagant. Her strapless dress was one of the best – if not the best – dress the girls had seen all night.

But, the most fun of the night had been getting Meghan ready. Taylor and Gabriella had to hold her down as Sharpay put on her make up and Gabriella had to buy the dress because their friend hated dresses and was going to go in dress pants. Sharpay wouldn't have any of that, and had actually yelled at Cam for making her a tomboy, even though it was Meghan's personality. All Cam had to do was find a navy tie. Troy and Chad had scorned him for not having to spend any agonizing time with his tie like they had.

The girls walked up the stairs and the first one in the bathroom was Meghan, eager to get out of the midnight blue dress. After an hour or so, all the girls had taken showers and were sitting in a circle on Gabriella's floor talking about how much fun it had been and how much they were dreading the end of their senior year.

After Sharpay, Taylor, and Meghan had fallen asleep, Gabriella walked out onto her balcony with her radio in hand and sat on the wood. A song came on and she smiled. It was the song she and Troy danced to when they were crowned prom royalty. She started to sing along.

"I do, I do

I do, I do.

All I am, all I'll be

everything in this world

all that I'll ever need

is in your eyes, shining at me.

When you smile I can feel

all my passion unfolding.

Your hand brushes mine

and the thousand sensations

seduce me cause I

I do, cherish you,

for the rest of my life

you don't have to think twice.

I will, love you still

from the depths of my soul

it's belong my control.

I've waited so long

to say this to you.

If you're asking do I love you this much,

I do."

But she wasn't alone when she sang the final 'I do.' She looked up to see Troy, standing on her balcony, a smile spread across his face. "Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," she whispered back. "What are you doing here?"

He sat down beside her. "I never thought I'd see two kids just die out right in front of my eyes. One minute, Chad and Cam are chatting away. Taylor this, Meghan that. Then I go downstairs for a split second and walk back in and BAM!" he whispered, using hand motions to convey his emotions without waking the neighborhood. "Out like a light."

Gabriella chuckled softly under her breath and leaned against Troy's body. She put her arms loosely around his neck, her arm barely able to feel the defibrillator in his chest under the lightweight 'Property of East High' apparel. "I do," Troy whispered lightly.

She smiled before the two's eyes focused on the stars in the sky.

**Aww...how cute.**

**Review!**


	13. The Accident

**Okay, I know I haven't put one up in a while, so here it is. This is the accident, the fatal car crash that takes the lives of our favorite teenagers. Sorry it's been so long.**

**The Accident**

A car that sounded like a race car slammed at amazing speed into the driver's side of Calum's car. Mack kept her eyes shut as the car was pushed off the road by force and driven into a tree. She blacked out and lost all feeling.

Calum's hand slowly fell out of hers and landed with a thump on the seat beside him. His face was covered with blood and broken glass was jammed into his skin. His left hand was still holding onto the wheel, and his head was rolled onto one of his shoulders.

The man in the other car's head was rested on the steering wheel. You could smell the alcohol on his body, but there weren't any breaths coming from his mouth. The man had died instantly after his car collided with the car of the two innocent teenagers.

A siren blared through the roads and people were looking out their windows to see what had happened. Three ambulances made their way to the scene of the wreck and a fire engine followed behind them. A few paramedics and firefighters opened the door of the car. Carefully, they took Calum out and placed the boy on a gurney while more paramedics struggled with the passenger side door.

Mack's eyes blinked open and a shock of pain flew through her body. She looked into the seat next to her.

"Calum," she whispered.

"Sweetie, stay awake," came a tender voice of one of the paramedics. "We're going to help you."

"Calum!" she said as loud as she could with the energy she had. She kept looking around frantically for him. "Calum!" she screamed. "Where's Calum!"

"He's in the other ambulance," the paramedic said, pointing quickly to a white truck with red lights driving away. "He's getting help."

Suddenly, Mack felt tired. Her eyes could barely stay open and she felt like she'd used up all her energy yelling for Calum. Slowly, her eyes closed and the paramedic swore lightly under her breath.

* * *

Dr. Joseph Martin looked though the clear doors and into the ambulance bay. One of the ambulances had arrived and the other was close behind. At the moment, he was scared to death. Two teenagers was the word. He didn't know who they were, but he did know his brother went to a pre-graduation party at Adam Duval's house that night.

"Martin! You got the first kid!" Chief of the ER, Mark Carter yelled. "I'll get the the second."

The doors of the ER seemed to open in slow motion. Joseph stood still. His brother Jeremy was his only family. His parents had died and he'd been given custody of his sibling. Him, right out of med school, with a twelve year old. But, he loved the kid and the thought that this could be him or one of his friends was scaring him.

"Martin!"

Joseph shook himself out of his trance and looked at the stretcher. A paramedic was on top of the kid yelling "V-Fib!" and he rushed toward it. He put his dark skinned hand on the side of it, looking down at the cuts and scraps on the tan legs.

"Do we have a name?" Katie Donnelly, another doctor, asked.

"Yep," the paramedic on her right said to Katie and Joseph. "Calum Boucher, 18. Poor kid, just driving like he was supposed to. Damn drunks."

"Trauma 1!" the man at the reception desk, Ricky, yelled. The stretcher was brought away as another was brought in.

"Here we go!" Mark Carter yelled. "All hands on deck," he added jokingly.

"Mackenzie Bolton, 18 in a few days," a paramedic said. "Passenger in the car with the other kid. Coming in and out of consciousness."

Mark nodded and lead them into Trauma 2. About thirty minutes later, Mark walked through a door that connected the two rooms together. He looked at some of the nurses, and nodded his head solemnly. "Time?" he asked, wondering how long Calum had been in cardiac arrest.

"Thirty-one minutes," one of them said. "Joseph won't give up."

"Martin," Mark said. "Did you know him?"

"I knew of him," Joseph said, still pumping his hands against Calum's bare chest. "Star basketball player at my brother's school. He's got his whole life ahead of him."

"Joseph," Mark said, placing his hands on Joseph's shoulders knowing this wasn't easy for the other doctor. "It's time to call it."

Joseph turned his head away from the body. "Time of death, 2:06am." After saying the words, Joseph turned around. "I'll clean him up and call his parents."

"Are you sure?" one of the nurses asked. Joseph nodded and walked to the sink. He grabbed a basin and filled it with water, listening to Mark and Katie talk through the door.

"What about the girl?"

Mark shrugged. "She won't wake up. She's brain dead. Her organs are perfect though and she is a donor. We just need parental consent. She is a minor."

"But she's a donor-"

"We still like to get permission," Mark interrupted.

Joseph felt water on his hand and looked down at the basin which was now overflowing. He turned the water off and walked over to the bed. His fingers fell on a rag and he dipped it in the warm water before wiping the dried blood from Calum's face.

He didn't understand it. He knew Calum and Mack were good kids. They weren't the athletes that did drugs or were incredibly dumb like the ones on television. They were both in the top ten percent of their class. Calum had actually been in his brother's AP Calculus class.

His eyes gazed down at Calum's young face, all scratched and scraped. It wasn't fair. Both Calum and Mack had their entire lives left. Calum was going to Duke. They would have been great adults, professional doctors or architects or what ever they put their minds to.

Joseph lifted himself up from the chair he was seated in and picked up the phone. He grabbed Calum's wallet and looked through it to find a phone number. After he couldn't find anything he was sure was a home number, he searched the contacts list of the boy's cellphone. Low and behold, under 'Home' was a number. He punched in the seven digits and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello. Is this the Boucher residence?" The woman on the other line, who he assumed was Calum's mother, answered yes. "My name's Joseph Martin and I work at the hospital. Your son Calum was in an accident and," he turned to the table where Calum was with a cloth over him, "his condition is serious. I think you should come immediately."

"Is he okay?" Karen asked, fearful for her son.

Joseph took a deep breath. One thing he didn't want to do was tell a mother her child was dead over the telephone. "His condition is...very serious, please just come to hospital."

After the phone call had ended, he pushed open the door to see two parents talking to Mark. He assumed it was the girl's parents, and he nodded when he saw Jack Bolton, the varsity boys basketball coach. He felt sick to his stomach and rushed toward the door to get fresh air.

**Okay, so tell me what you think. I think I'll put a few more up about what happens to them after this, like Troy, Cam, Adam, and Bailey's reactions to their friends and siblings' deaths.**

**I think it's time we let Mack and Calum rest in peace.**

**Review!**


	14. Adam

**Okay, here's the first chapter of the end. He he, that sounds funny.**

**Anyway, it's Adam's response to tragedy.**

**Adam**

Adam stared at the hole in his wall. It was fairly large, seems as his fist went through it. He looked down at his hand. It was covered in blood and pieces of wall. That is what he thought of drunks. That's what he thought of drivers who were drunk. That's what he thought about Calum's death.

He looked away and at the calendar on his wall. Tomorrow was the last day of school and Adam couldn't even think about it. He'd been going back to school since Calum died. It had been tough, especially the anticipation of graduation. And, thinking about it, he didn't think he could make it a whole day without breaking down. He'd lost his composure at least once everyday since the fateful day.

Taking one last look at his room, he grabbed his backpack and filled it with a few things. A toothbrush, a pair of clothes, and a picture of the group. Then he stormed out of the house toward the airport, all his money in his pocket, ready to get out of Albuquerque with the one way plane ticket he'd bought on line.

"_Well, when Teagan finds the cure to some unbearable disease and has loads of money, we'll have him buy us houses and yachts."_

"_I like the way you think."_

_Calum chuckled before grabbing Mack's sweatshirt off the couch. "I do too."_

"_Wait, you're going to be some big shot basketball guy. Why would you want to be friends with a computer nerd and a drifter?" Adam asked._

"_I'm not going to be 'some big shot basketball guy.' I don't want to be."_

_Adam shook his head. "You're nuts. If I had your talent, I'd try to be in the NBA. Then I could pay for my houses, my yachts and any other debt I'm going to be in."_

"_See that's how we're different, dude. You want to be away from your family, I want the opposite."_

"_What ever floats your boat," Adam joked. _

Adam shook his head as he got in his car. He was a drifter, that was how he was. But Calum, tears came to his eyes just thinking about him. Calum was supposed to be the big, college basketball star. He was supposed to get a really good job, marry Mack, and be the father that Daniel wasn't. And none of that was going to happen. None of it.

"All because some drunk guy couldn't find a sober ride," Adam mumbled under his breath.

"_Dude!" _

_Calum turned back to see Adam running down the hall. "Didn't you hear me the first twenty times I yelled?" Adam asked, slightly out of breath. "You walk too fast!"_

"_Sorry," Calum said. "I have a lot on my mind."_

"_Yeah, I know, practice," Adam said, rolling his eyes thinking basketball was Calum's only focus. "I know, you have practice because you guys made the championships. Everyone loves Varsity! JV can just die."_

_Calum placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Hey, JV is good, and you'll be off it next year anyway. Plus, I'm the only sophomore, you have a ton of sophomores on your team."_

"_Actually, JV is good," Adam said. "Because I can take Bailey out and give her the necklace I got because I'm just oh-so romantic."_

_Calum stared silently for a moment. "Yeah," he said, almost laughing._

"_Shut up," Adam said. "What are you doing tonight?"_

_The dark haired boy leaned against some lockers and pretended to think. "Hmm...I think I'll go out with my non-existent girlfriend and take her to a really expensive restaurant I can't afford, then give her a necklace I never bought. How does that sound?"_

"_Do something with Mack," Adam said._

"_Don't you think that'd be a little awkward?"_

_Suddenly, a pink cowboy hat landing on Calum's head and the two boys looked to the girl who'd walked up. Mack was standing with red paper hearts and a smile on her face. "Happy Valentine's Day!" she yelled, passing Calum one of the hearts._

"_Don't I get one?" Adam asked with fake hurt._

"_No," Mack joked before passing him his. She grabbed her pink hat off Calum's head and put it on her own. "So, where are you taking Bailey?"_

"_I don't know," Adam said. "That restaurant she's been dying to go to downtown."_

"_Good choice," Mack said. She turned to Calum. "Hey, do you want to go see a movie tonight, a really scary one, because everyone is probably going to go to the romantic chick-flicks."_

"_Are you sure?" Adam interrupted as Calum was going to answer. "Last time we went to a scary movie you had nightmares for months."_

"_No," Mack said. "I only had them for a week, okay, and they weren't nightmares. They were bad dreams."_

_Adam nodded his head. "Big difference."_

_She rolled her eyes and turned to Calum. "Do you want to? Or, you can come to my house and we can enjoy a good laugh at some of Troy's old baby movies."_

"_Hmm," Calum said. "That's a good offer. Troy's baby movies, it would be a night of laughs. And I could bring some of Cam's. Oh man, that would be great."_

_Mack picked up the sarcastic tone of his voice. "Are you making fun of me?"_

Adam looked out the window of the plane with tears stinging his eyes. He hugged his basketball sweatshirt to keep the tears from coming. Mack and Calum always flirted, but nothing ever came of it until he, Teagan, Bailey, and Keisha got involved.

"So, you play basketball?"

Adam turned to see an older man sitting in the seat beside him. His gray hair was short and his brown eyes seemed kind. He reached a brown hand to the sleeve of Adam's sweatshirt. "Duval, 3" he read. "East High. I used to coach there, but that was a long time ago."

"Really?"

"Yep," the man said. "I coached the wildcats back when we had Chris Danforth and Jack Bolton. Shame what happened to them, they could have gone far in their careers. But, Jack's coaching now, I assume he's your coach."

"You coached Coach Bolton?" Adam said, his eyes widening.

The man nodded and held his hand out. "Alex Wells, and your name?"

"Adam," he said, shaking the man's hand.

"Now, what would a kid your age be doing on a flight out of Albuquerque when tomorrow's the last day of school?"

"I have nothing left here," Adam told him. "Two of my best friends are dead. Not to mention one of them is Coach's daughter."

Alex nodded solemnly. "Calum Boucher and Mack Bolton."

"How did you know?"

The older man laughed. "I may be old, Adam, but I still watch the news." He paused. "It was a terrible thing that happened to them, but why are you risking your life. You have family in Albuquerque, correct me if I'm wrong, and you'll probably be off to college. Why destroy your future?"

"I'm a drifter," Adam muttered. "I'll just apply to a state school where I end up."

"Where you going to get the money? College is expensive," Alex said.

Adam shrugged. "I really don't care anymore, Alex."

A sigh came from the older man's mouth before he reached in his pocket and took out a business card. He handed it to Adam. "There, you seem like a good kid. If you ever have any trouble, I'm a phone call away."

**So, how was that?**

**Review.**


	15. Bailey

**Alright, this is short, but I wanted to put it out before I gave you the next one, because it really fits here. It's Bailey and graduation.**

**Bailey Montello**

"Where is he?" Bailey moaned through tears. There was ten minutes before graduation started and Adam was no where to be found. Teagan kept his eyes focused on the doorway, sure his friend would burst through the doors at any given moment.

"I'm sure he's just late," Keisha said, patting Bailey on the back.

"Adam's never late," Teagan whispered. "There's has to be a reason."

"Of course there's a reason!" Bailey yelled. A few freshmen walking down the hallway turned to look, but turned away quickly. "Calum's dead, that's why he's not here. And you know that's the reason. He doesn't want to be here when we get our diplomas because Calum won't get his."

Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Doesn't he know that it's hard for us as well! Mack's gone too. Sometimes I think he's so conceited to believe everything is centered around him!"

Teagan sighed knowing everything Bailey said was true. He turned to Keisha. For once in her life, she didn't know what to say and was completely silent. She gave him a small smile which was filled with grief.

Through the entire ceremony Bailey's body shook with sobs. Not only were Calum and Mack absent, but Adam was suspiciously missing. She didn't care that everyone's eyes were focused on her. She couldn't have cared less that she looked awful. Her parents had made her come. Even before Adam disappeared without any warning, she hadn't wanted to come.

As far as Bailey was concerned, September couldn't come faster. Then, she'd be as far away from Albuquerque as she could ever want to be. Now, all that was left of East High School was memories. She would never have to take another step inside of it again.

But, she knew she'd eventually find her way back. This was where she grew up, spent all her time, had the best memories of her life. She couldn't imagine living anywhere else, even if her best friend had died mere minutes from her home.

And it made her sick thinking about Calum. Duke, after hearing of the accident, actually sent a letter of sympathy to Karen and Cam. He was a good kid, and had it not been for him, her group and his would have never merged and she never would have dated Adam.

The memories seemed like dreams now. Dreams that were too far away to reach.

She found herself running as fast as she could in her gown away from the auditorium. She fell to the ground in front of a small stone. They were putting in a memorial garden for Calum and Mack during the summer. It was going to be beautiful. All that was in the dirt was a stone and two pictures, one of Mack, the other of Calum.

Mack smirked back at the camera, looking as confident as ever. Calum was grinning, but you could tell his eyes were on something in the distance.

"Mack, why did you leave? You were always the confident one and you're so missed! I mean, if it had been the opposite, like me and Adam instead, would we have gotten the same reaction?" she whispered.

"Of course," Mack's voice said in her head. "I mean, do you actually think I would stop crying? Remember when Mikaela died? I couldn't stop the tears."

Bailey's hallucination giggled. "You always thought like that, Bails. I mean, it wasn't you so stop worrying. It was me, and no offense, I think my parents and Calum's mom could handle the death of a child better than yours or Adam's."

Bailey raised an eyebrow. Mack's voice was right. Her mother would have gone into hysterics and her father would have locked himself up in his room. Plus, Adam had all his little siblings. Bailey rolled her eyes, 'who are all dealing with the selfish pig running away from his emotions,' she thought.

"But, he's always been that way," came Calum's voice. "And you know it too. So stop kidding yourself, Bailey. It's not going to help. He'll come back when he's healed."

Bailey's eyes widened. She was having a conversation with Calum and Mack, but they were dead. It wasn't possible, she had seen their dead bodies. "I'm going crazy," she muttered.

"You were always crazy," Mack told her. "In a good way."

A tear fell down her face. She was going to go crazy. Her body rocked back and forth in a scared manner. "I'm hearing voices, I'm hearing voices. Not good. Not good at all!"

Tears were coming at a steady stream down her cheeks. "Adam, where are you?" she sobbed. "I need you. I love you."

**Okay, so I hope you liked it:)**

**Review!**


	16. Cam

**Alrighty. Here's the next one. I tried a different approach with this one, it's through the point of view of a different character, yet it shows Cam's emotions (or, at least, I hope it does!)**

**Oh, yeah, and it takes place in like September or something close to that, so it's after the summer. **

**

* * *

**

Cam was rushing around his dorm room, his eyes frantic as he lifted up his math book up for the thirteenth time. Two boys, both tall with sweatshirts on, stood in the door. The taller one, a blond boy, knocked on the wall and Cam looked over for a split second before going back to his search.

"Hey, Cam! What's up?" the boy who knocked asked. When Cam didn't answer he added, "not even a hello?"

"Hey Jeff," Cam said, still distracted and not noticing another boy was in the doorway. "I'm...just trying...to find..." He lifted his math book for the fourteenth time and sighed. "Something."

"This place is a pigsty," the other boy, an African-American with hair that reminded Cam of Chad, said, looking at the floor in disgust.

Cam rolled his eyes. "I've been looking for the last hour, Sam, and I still can't find the damn thing."

"Well, what is it?" Jeff said, lifting up Cam's pillow. Cam grabbed the pillow out of the boy's hands and chucked it out the doorway with a groan.

"I've already looked there eight times," he snapped, kicking the side of the dresser. "I think I forgot it," he muttered, collapsing on the floor with his head in his hands. Jeff and Sam gave each other a look as Cam started muttering various places he could have misplaced the still unknown item.

Sam sat down beside him. "Dude, we'll help you find it, and if you need a new one we get go get one at the store."

Jeff knew instantaneously that those words were not what Cam wanted to hear. He slammed his hand on the floor and both boys suddenly felt sorry for whoever had the dorm under his – and especially sorry for Max Whitman, Cam's own dorm mate.

"Well, just tell us what it is you're looking for and we'll tear this place apart to find it," Jeff said, opening drawers.

"You guys are going to think it's stupid." There was a slight pause. "It's Calum's obituary. I cut it out of the newspaper back home, and I just wanted to look at it."

"Dude, that's not in the least bit stupid," Jeff said, turning to face the others. "If I was as close to my brother as you were to Calum, I'd still be in bed. You've got strength to even get up in the mornings, and if every once and a while you need to see his face that's perfectly okay."

Cam shrugged and wiped his eyes. "It's under the bed," he said in a quiet voice. "Will you get it, Jeff?"

Jeff nodded and reached under the bed. He grabbed the small piece of paper and took a look at it. He'd only met Calum once, when he'd come up during a long weekend to see the campus. Jeff couldn't even begin to think that it had only been about six months ago.

"_Okay, Jeff, Sam, this is my brother. Cal, these are my friends." Cam said introducing them. Calum had his hands in his pockets, in the same position Cam had been in moments ago when the plane had landed on the runway. _

"_You guys look exactly alike," Jeff said with a smile. Calum's eyes widened._

"_Are you kidding me? I don't look like Cam," he said, fake outrage filling his voice but a smile appearing on his face. _

"_So, you any good at basketball?" Sam asked, trying to get a conversation going._

_Jeff chucked. "The better question is: how good are compared to you're brother?"_

_Calum scoffed and walked passed them. He turned back with his sunglasses over his eyes. "You think Cam's good. Ha! You've never seen me play. I'm, like, a god."_

"_Yes!" Jeff cheered, giving Calum a high five. "I like him already!"_

_Cam rolled his eyes. "Because modesty seeps through both of you."_

Jeff glanced back at Cam. The entire basketball had gotten to know Calum well, even if it was only for three days. Each of them had tried to steal Calum away at one point to play basketball or talk about Albuquerque, to see if he agreed with Cam about how great it was. Most of the team was actually from North Carolina or a state that bordered it and most of them had never been to New Mexico, let alone Albuquerque.

You could definitely tell the two were brothers in more ways than one. Not only did they look alike – the only main difference being the color of their eyes and a slightly different structure in their faces – but they acted similar and like the same types of things. Cam had only told Sam and Jeff about Daniel and what their _father_ had done to them, so they were the only two that really knew how close Cam and Calum really were.

It had been extremely hard for Cam when the news had come about Calum. They had just finished their finals that day and were out having fun, trying to stay up for a complete twenty-four hours when the call came. They were at a park, just laughing about random stuff, and the memory was still so vivid in his mind.

"_Hey, hold on," Cam said, grabbing his cellphone out of his pocket. It vibrated in his hand and he looked at the caller id. _

"_Who is it?" Jeff asked._

_Cam's face showed puzzlement. "It's my mom, but it's like two in the morning back home." He lifted the phone to his ear and walked away, just far enough away for the others to hear bits and pieces of the conversation. Cam leaned against a tree as he hung up the phone and stuck it in his pocket and he stayed in the same position for a few minutes before turning back to the group._

_He sat down on the bench, his eyes glazed over with tears, and the guys stayed quiet. They each gave each other looks but no one spoke until Cam did. "I'm going home," he said. "Next flight. Anybody want to help me pack. I need to be at the airport in three hours."_

"_Why?" Sam had been brave enough to ask. The four others who were with them nodded, looking up at Cam for an answer._

"_It's Calum, he got in a car accident." Tears were sliding down his face and he was unable to finish his explanation, although everyone already knew what happened. Cam wouldn't have started to cry unless it was serious, unless the accident had been fatal._

"_When's the funeral?" Justin Boyer asked, trying to stop the awkward silence._

_Cam just shook his head and Jeff stood up. "We'll all help you pack." _

He had ended up driving Cam to the airport and helping him get his luggage checked. Cam had never been an emotional person, or at least to Jeff's knowledge, and it hurt him to see his friend so upset. "He's gone," was all Cam said the rest of the night until they separated.

"Thanks," Cam said when Jeff handed him the paper.

"Dude, we're here if you need us," Jeff said sincerely. Sam nodded in agreement.

"You know," Cam said, surprising the other two by talking. "I'm actually happy to get out of there for a while. It's falling apart back there. Adam left and nobody knows where he went and Teagan's putting so much energy into school, I'm shocked he even eats. I miss him so much, I didn't even think it was possible to hurt so much because of one loss."

Jeff and Sam nodded in agreement, knowing that they would never be in the same situation. Cam and Calum had gone through so much together, they were much more than brothers, and were closer than any set of best friends. Long ago, they had made their own category for themselves, only to realize it after it was too late.

**So, tell me what you think of it! **

**Review!**


	17. Troy

**Hello, long time no post, huh?**

**So, here's Troy's little chapter. I hope you like it.**

**Troy**

The house was quiet. There was no one there but him, sitting cross legged on the floor and staring at the pictures. Tomorrow was the start of a new adventure, his journey he would share with the love of his life, but it didn't seem right. Nothing felt right, not after what had happened.

It had been two years. Two entire years. His heart raced thinking of the time that had passed. Two years since he'd seen her smile, heard her laugh, hugged her tight. Two long and painful years after he'd seen his little sister dead in a box because of someone who had been drinking.

Troy growled under his breath and glared ahead of him. It didn't seem fair. Mack had never done anything wrong and she was gone. Calum was gone.

He spread himself out on the floor, his eyes focused on the ceiling, his arms spread wide, his back connecting with the soft carpet of his parents' home. Everyone was out to dinner, but Troy told them he didn't feel well.

"Pre-wedding jitters," Chad had said with a laugh.

Gabriella had looked at him worriedly but he managed to get her to go. He needed this alone time, to think if nothing else. He was right out of college and ready to get married, but...he felt broken inside.

Growing up, Mack had been the only one who had understood. She had always been there for him. She watched him when he was sick when anyone else would have left him in his room, constantly checking on him and making him feel good even though he really felt awful.

He knew he was taking it hard, but he had tried to be strong and failed. He didn't know how to go on. Mack was his sister, it wasn't like her not being there was ever going to be _normal_.

He also knew his parents wanted him to go to a shrink. He had chuckled at that. He didn't need a guy with a PhD to tell him what was wrong. He missed his sister. He wanted Mack to come back, to walk down the stairs and laugh at him. "Ha, ha, I got you this time, big brother!"

His eyes traveled to the stairs. He'd thought he'd heard her voice.

* * *

"Daddy?" 

Troy looked up to see his two daughters standing in the doorway of his office. The oldest, Pilar, was thirteen and exactly like Mack, in both looks and attitude. Marina, his youngest, was six and more like Gabriella, quiet and studious. His eleven year old son, Adriano, was out with friends and today it was just him and the girls.

"What is it, Pilar? I'm a little busy."

"Too busy to see your bestest bud in the whole entire world," came a new voice. Cam strode into the room, followed by Chad who seemed slightly aggravated.

Marina laughed. "You're so funny, Uncle Cam!" she squealed.

Chad snorted and Troy rolled his eyes as Cam ran a hand through his hair and winked at the young girl. Even though he'd aged and had children of his own, Cam would always be a kid at heart. Chad pushed him and the girls walked out of the room. Troy put his face back into his papers until he felt Cam and Chad's eyes on him.

"Yes?" he asked, looking up.

"Oh, go ahead, we'll wait," Cam said. Troy looked down and Cam moaned. "I was kidding!"

"Yeah," Chad said. "You are going to need to take a break from grading those papers, especially if they did as bad as I _know _my kid did," he looked over and grimaced at all the red marks before sighing with relief when he realized it wasn't his son's paper.

Troy pushed the lab reports out of the way. He was a freshman science teacher at East High. His mother had laughed, seeing as he was the third generation Bolton to work at the school since his grandmother and father had both worked there. Jack had rolled his eyes. He apparently knew that Troy would follow in his footsteps, or at least that's what he had said when Troy said he was working at the school.

"You need to lighten up, I can barely hear. Taylor's voice keeps ringing in my ear because James always comes home with failing grades. From your class only!" Chad slouched in his chair. "And she blames _me_ for him not being a science whiz like her."

"I grade all my students hard," Troy said. "And James is actually one of the better kids."

Chad's eyes widened. "Then I pity the parents of the kids who do worse than he does. I'm surprised they haven't conspired to get you fired!"

"Enough about me," Troy interrupted, turning to Cam. "What did you come here for."

"To talk to you about yourself," Cam said seriously. "When was the last time you smiled. And don't tell me at Marina's birthday because that's a lie."

Troy had to seriously think about that. He had smiled recently, but whenever he did he thought of Mack and frowned. It had been eighteen, almost nineteen years since her untimely death.

"Yeah, and for your own benefit, the kids are calling you names behind your back, like we used to do to Mr. Applewhite," Chad said. Troy glared at him. Mr. Applewhite had been one of the cruelest teachers at East High during their sophomore year. Fortunately, he stopped teacher there in their junior year, only to teach at West High, then finally staying at North High until his retirement.

"I'm not that bad."

Chad and Cam roared with laughter. "No, you're worse," Chad said. "You made the decathlon team cry," he continued.

He raised his eyebrows. He didn't know that!

"Troy, you've been grieving for-"

"She was my sister!" Troy roared at Cam. The other man glared at his friend before speaking.

"Calum was my brother and we were just as close to each other as you were to Mack! And don't you go telling me that it isn't true, because you know damn well about our relationship and Daniel." Cam shook slightly at the mention of his abusive father and Troy stayed quiet. "You need to stop being so selfish and give your kids the Troy we knew."

Troy sighed. "He doesn't exist anymore," he muttered.

"I think he does."

There was a silence. "So," Cam said after a minute. "You'll never guess who came by the house today."

"The boogyman," Chad joked. Cam glared and Troy semi-smiled, at their childish behavior. Cam smiled in response, it was a start.

He grabbed a book off Troy's desk and hit Chad over the head. "No, you bonehead." He turned to Troy. "Adam Duval."

Troy's eyebrows raised so high he thought they'd end up in his hair. "After all this time? What's he doing back?"

Cam shrugged. "I don't know, he was passing through and wanted to see his family after that disappearing act he pulled at graduation. I don't blame him, I probably would have done the same thing, but none-the-less. He looks exactly the same."

"How's he doing?"

Cam shrugged. "I think he would have been better if he stayed here and," he gave Troy a look, "_healed_ like the rest of us."

The door creaked open and a dark haired boy entered, Pilar and little Marina right behind him. "Dad," he directed to Cam. "Can you give me and Pilar a ride to the mall?"

"Cole, please, don't say you want to throw those awful soft pretzels at people again," Cam moaned. "I still have the bruise your mother gave me for letting you two alone in the food court!"

"Dad, it wasn't my fault. It was that jerk Nico's!"

"Yes," Cam stated pointing at his arm. "But, my arm still hurts!"

Chad laughed beside him. "That's what happens when you marry an athlete like Meghan." Cam's hand connected with the side of his head. "Hey! I'll give them a ride if you're so scared of her!"

Troy smiled as Chad was ushered off by Cam and dragged away by Pilar and Cole. They were best friends and sometimes they reminded him of Mack and Calum.

"Daddy! I want to go too!"

Cam picked up Marina and placed her in his lap. "No you don't. You'll have more fun here than you will with them. You can play with me."

Troy wholeheartedly laughed at Cam's statement.

**Alright, so you have to tell me what you think.**

**I got the idea of the food throwing from a couple of my friends that were stupid enough to do that. Ugh! I was utterly embarrassed when they told me.**

**Okay, now I think the next one shot will be the last.**

**Review!**


	18. Since I Saw You Last

**Alrighty, this is it, a Bailey/Adam reunion. I'm sure you all can't wait.

* * *

**

**Since I Saw You Last...**

Bailey leaned her arm against counter and put her head in her hand. She was tired and she hated working at the check out of the clothing store in the mall. Sure, she'd gone to college, but she didn't know what she wanted to do and had now been employee of the month for fifteen straight years at the same store.

It was mid morning on a weekend and no one was there. Every once and a while she saw someone, but the groups of teenagers wouldn't start coming until one. Now, it was close to empty.

"Bailey?"

She lifted her head up, thinking she was going to see her boss, but instead she looked into blue eyes. The blue eyes that she fell in love with in her freshman year and hadn't seen for nearly two decades.

He looked exactly the same, the same haircut, the same skin tone. It seemed as if in his years away, he had been aging every five years rather than having a birthday every three hundred and sixty five days. She blushed, knowing that she didn't look as good as Adam did. She looked, in her opinion, just as old as her mother.

"You're back?" she asked quietly. "What took you so long?"

He looked down at his hands as if he were ashamed of himself and Bailey looked around. Sue Ellen was setting up the register beside her. Bailey walked beside her. "Can you take over for a minute?"

Sue Ellen glanced at Adam and raised her eyebrows. "Of course, sweetie, is he a _friend_?"

Bailey shrugged. "I'll tell you when I get back." Then she walked around to Adam. "I'm on break and you're going to tell me what you have been doing these last few years."

Adam nodded and they walked out. They sat down at a table in the food court although neither were hungry. Silence overtook the table before Bailey took control. She had so many feelings toward him; hurt, hate, but more importantly love. "Your parents were worried sick about you."

He nodded solemnly. "I know. It was stupid, but I had to get away-"

"Adam, we were all grieving. Together! You ran out on everyone, on me!" Tears sprung to her eyes and she forced Adam to look into them. "Do you know how much everyone needed you? How much I needed you?"

He himself was biting back tears, but Bailey hadn't finished yet. "After one year, we thought you'd at least call." Then quietly, whispering in voice so small that she almost couldn't hear herself, she said, "we thought you were dead."

"Bailey, I know it was stupid, and I'm not asking you to forgive me...I just wanted to say I was sorry." Bailey stared into his eyes and noticed they looked sincere. "I know that it's not enough, and will never be enough, but I wanted to get that out there."

She stayed silent. "I can leave now if you like," he said, standing.

Bailey grabbed his hand and pulled him back down in the seat. "No, I lost you once before, I won't lose you again."

Adam glanced at her, not knowing what to say. She chuckled to herself, figuring that what she said wasn't wanted to hear. "So, how's the family?" she guessed. "Do you have any kids?"

He raised an eyebrow before looking into the salt container he had picked up moments before. "No, I don't. I told you I loved you, Bailey." He looked up into her eyes. "That never changed. I still love you, and no one else."

The tears that had formed in her eyes finally fell. "I love you too," she whispered. He smiled and reached across the table to grab her hand in his.

"I am...I hate myself for leaving you."

"Don't," she told him. "I hated myself for not following after you."

Something caught his attention behind her. "Holy cow," he muttered under his breath. Curious, Bailey turned to see two young kids walking into a store. She smiled.

"So," she said turning toward him. "I guess you have yet to meet Cole Boucher and Pilar Bolton."

His eyes stayed wide and she laughed. "They do look exactly like Calum and Mack, don't they? They're best friends too, so they're always together. But, I guess that's what happens when your fathers are best friends."

Adam shook his head when the two teens were out of sight and glanced back at her. "So, Bailey, how does coffee sound? My treat."

* * *

**So, that was the finale, the last hurrah, the end note.**

**Now it's time to let Mack and Calum (and the rest of our little friends) go.**

**I'm going to miss writing about them, but they'll always be in my heart. They were fun to write. Now I'm off to work on the sequel to Help Me. If anyone has any ideas about a title or something, let me know. I could use it.**

**So, tell me what you think, actually what you thought about this.**

**Adios!**


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